This is on a bus ride back from camp
by jjabramss
Summary: Parman.


"Dad, I don't wan't to do this." Logan's voice is stern, he's been set against camp since his father brought it up on his sixteenth birthday almost six months ago. His father is adamant that he goes, using phrases like 'it will be a good experience' and 'you'll make lifelong friends.' Logan knows that neither of those things will be true, but they've just moved to a new city and he decides that maybe it won't be so bad. He assumes that he'll make at least a few friends at camp that live in the same area as him, and that could be an asset going into his junior year of high school.

"Don't get into too much trouble." His father kissed that top of his head, which he visibly cringed at. His dad only responded by laughing and patting him on the shoulder. He mumble a 'love you' before running off to the bus. It was a school bus that had been painted a florescent green color, but the inside was the same familiar brown, fake leather seats. Some had small rips in them, others had duck tape holding the bottom together. He took a seat in the fifth row, not too far in the front to be a nerd and not too far into the back to be considered a hoodlum, he might've never been to a camp before but he knew his bus etiquette.

He could see his father standing in a group of fellow parents dropping off their kids. He was talking to a man and a woman where looked roughly his age, their kid wasn't with them, probably already on the bus or in one of the groups of kids that were gathered near the bus high-fiving each other. Logan already felt left out of these groups, and thought that maybe he would have a chance to leave before the bus took off. He could hop off and tell his dad that he'd changed his mind and just go back to their house.

"You're new here." Logan turned his head away from the window, a boy had taken the seat in front of him and was now turned around looking at him. The boys arms hung other the seat and he was tapping a beat on it, "I'm Dean, but my friends call me Burns." He smirked at the mention of his nickname. "No one calls you Burns!" came a shout from a group of girls a few seats behind them. He laughed and left the seat he was in, integrating into the group leaving Logan alone. Kids began filtering onto the bus filling up the seats. A kid carrying a first aid kit took the front seat and that just reinforced his seat choice. Seats were filling up quickly, but the spot next to him stayed empty.

An older woman, probably in her thirties and a camp leader by the look of it, came onto the bus. She was wearing a bright orange shirt that read 'Camp Adirondack' on it. She was holding a clip board with a list of names, flipping through it.

"Two to a seat." She yelled, looking up and pointing to somebody behind Logan. He assumed it was the group that Burns had assimilated himself into. Apparently the group didn't break apart because the woman made her way down the aisle, she seemed flustered by the situation. Logan turned his attention back out the window, the second camp leader was throwing the last bag into a minivan that was the same florescent green as the bus was, it also had 'Camp Adirondack' across the back window. His dad had stopped talking to the couple and was now looking at him, he gave his dad a small wave and his dad waved back. He felt a soft breeze as someone sat, more like launched themselves onto the seat, next to him. He jumped a little, shocked by the sudden appearance of a person next to him.

"You don't mind if I sit here, do you?" The boy ask, he didn't look like he'd planned on moving even it Logan said yes, so instead he shook his head and the boy smiled. His teeth were a bit wobbly, but it was endearing. He was wearing cargo shorts and a solid blue t-shirt that was shockingly similar to the color of his eyes. The woman who'd gone to break up the group in the back of the bus came through the aisle muttering, the boy started laughing when she passed. Logan looked at him confused, he didn't seem like the kind of kid who made fun of authority figures, but then again the kid had just sat down so he didn't really know what kind of kid he was.

"That's Karen," the boy said when he saw Logan's face, "She's kind of like the mom around camp." It seemed like that was supposed to explain why he was laughing, but it didn't. Logan would never laugh at him mom when she was mad, mostly because that would get him grounded, but still. The boy stopped laughing and use gave a very short shrug, "It's fine, you're new, you'll get it eventually."

"How does everyone know I'm new?" Logan asked himself, he didn't think that he was wearing a sign that said he was new, but maybe he was. Hunter let out a small chuckle and shook his head.

"Your face." He said matter-of-factly, Logan's brows knitted together. His face? Was it because he'd been looking out the window at his dad? Maybe it was just the way his face looked? Could he somehow change his face to a less new looking one? "Most of these kids have been coming here for years. Everyone pretty much knows everyone else, but no one knows you." Karen had been talking to the other camp leader, but now she was trying to get the bus to quiet down. One loud whistle later it was silent.

"You guys know the routine," She said, Logan didn't, "If you're new you'll pick up on it." She began reading through the list of names and the owners of those names responded some times with 'here' or 'present' but mostly it was shouts of 'yeah' or 'come on karen you know i'm here,' to which she rolled her eyes and continued down the list. She yelled out Logan's name and he responded with 'Yes' to which she paused briefly looked at him and then continued. The boy who'd sat down next to him responded to 'Duke' which lead kids from the bus to yell things such as "The Duke is back?" and "I thought they were going to kick him out. They kicked out Yellowjacket."

"You're name is Duke?" Logan asked the boy once the kids had died down.

"No, my name is Hunter," he responded, "Duke is just a camp name." Logan wondered how camp names worked, did you get to pick your own or did other people pick them for you, and who had the audacity to name themselves Duke? Maybe he was trying to say that he was camp royalty, but didn't want people to call him King Hunter. Then there was the whole 'I thought they were going to kick him out thing' and Logan thought that maybe he was talking to the wrong sort of people.

The bus lurched forward and they began the trip to the campground, Logan had mapped out that the trip was going to be six hours from the city, and for that reason had brought his walkman. It was in one of the deep pockets in his cargo shorts. The bus became a loud roar of kids talking to one another, giggling and screeching came from many of the girls while the boys were pulling hair or comparing bruises.

"Why'd you decide to come to camp?" Hunter asked, Logan wondered why Hunter was talking to him. He'd obviously had plenty of friends but instead of talking to them he'd chosen to talk to him. It had been a decent couple of seconds and it didn't seem like Logan was going to respond, so Hunter continued talking. "I mean, obviously it's because of the war canoe. I know, no one can resist it's allure." At that Logan laughed and Hunter smiled.

"Actually, I came for the beaver dock." Logan said jokingly. Hunter laughed, partially because no one liked the beaver dock but mostly because he could imagine Logan stripping down to his skivvies and bathing out there. "I bet you'd feel bad if that's really the reason I was here." Logan said, and he was smiling and decided that maybe Hunter wasn't so bad.

They were an hour into the and he'd fallen asleep like most of the other kids on the bus. Six in the morning was an early start time and since he'd not been up before ten in the last couple weeks he was read for a nap an hour into it. He'd fallen asleep against the window, but woke up four hours later with his head on Hunter, who was sleeping with his knees pulled up and his head on them.

Some other campers wake up around the same time as him, they in turn wake up the people they are sitting with, and soon the bus is noisy again. Hunter wakes up when someone hits him in the shoulder and jokingly asks, "Since when does the Duke sleep?" and Hunter sleepily chuckled in announced that they were ten minutes from camp and a loud cheer erupted from the bus. Then, without notice, four kids broke out into song in unison

"Hear our voices raised in harmony." Other campers joined in as they continued, "The Adirondack spirit lives eternally. Heads held high we proudly march along, now join us as we sing this song" By the time they got to the second verse everyone was singing along, well almost everyone. There were maybe seven people who had no idea what was happening, one of them was Logan. Hunter was singing, actually it was more like shouting in a rhythm that everyonef else was doing, he nudged Logan as if to tell him to sing along. Logan just shook his head in the hopes that Hunter would get the message. Hunter immediately stopped singing.

"You don't know that camp song?" He was shocked, shaking his head, "How could you not know the camp song?" Logan was quiet, he didn't realize that there was a camp song to know. Nowhere in the pamphlet did it mention a camp song, but maybe he should've assumed that there was going to be kids around them were singing louder, about to finish off the song when they passed the archway that marked the entrance to the campgrounds. "I can't believe I'm going to have to teach you the camp song." Hunter said, and Logan smiled because that meant that he'd have at least one person to talk to during their three-week camp trip, even if it was just for a day.

The bus stopped abruptly next to a large lake, Logan remembered that it was called Tea Lake, fellow campers were standing up shouting. Karen stood up and told them that they were to get off the bus in an orderly fashion, find a camp buddy and then find her. Logan groaned, he wasn't told about having to have a camp buddy, maybe the kid with the first aide kit would be his camp buddy. Kids began flooding the aisles pushing one another to get off the bus. Hunter stood up in the aisle and took a step back to allow Logan to get in front of him. He slid through the small area awkwardly and then made his way off the bus as quickly as he could. The sun was straight overhead, yet it was cooler here than it had been back in the city. It probably had to do with them being further north or the lake, but he didn't have time to think about that right now because he had to find someone to room with.

"Come on." Hunter had slung an arm over his shoulder and was steering him towards Karen. Logan stumbled along next to him. He didn't have time for this, he had to find a camp buddy. Karen quirked an eyebrow at Hunter when they stopped in front of her. Logan was just confused as to why Hunter had pulled him over there, he hadn't found a buddy yet.

"You're buddying up with this one, Duke?" she asked flipping through her list. She wrote something on it, obviously not needing an answer to her question. Logan didn't know what to do, what did he normally do in situations like this? "You guys are going to be in Cabin 14." Hunter tilted his head slightly to the left and gave her a disapproving look.

"I want Happy Isle." Hunter said, his face changed from disapproving to happy in a matter of seconds. Karen groaned, flipped through her changes and then muttered a fine. Hunter laughed, "Thanks Karen." Logan still hadn't said anything, but he was happy too because he'd planned on spending camp alone and now at least he had one friend.

The bags had been thrown into a pile near the dock, kids were crowded around it each trying to find their or their friends bags. Logan saw his dark red duffle was laying against the pile, he promptly picked it up and sling it over his shoulder. Hunter had disappeared up to his torso into the pile trying to find his bag.

"Do you need help?" Logan asked standing maybe a foot behind him. He heard a muffled response and he wasn't sure if that was a yes or a no. A few moment later Hunter resurfaced bag in hand and the two boys made their way over to one of the three pointer boats that were waiting for them. There were only a few remaining seats left, and it was a tight squeeze for everyone. "I didn't know we had to take boats over." Logan said, sitting his duffle between his legs.

"Oh yeah, it's surround by miles of forrest land. No roads go over there." Hunter said. He too had sat his bag between his legs so their knees were touching. Logan was nervous, probably because of the whole 'no civilization besides the camp' thing that was happening, he'd seen enough horror movies to know that this was a bad idea, but maybe there was another reason, "There's like a fence around the camp because some kids ran off a few years ago and got lost." Logan's eyes widened and Hunter quickly added, "Don't worry, they were fine." Logan let out a sigh of relief, a lake camp was one things, a haunted lake camp was another.

The boat reached the dock where multiple camp councilors were waiting to meet them. They cheered as the campers climbed out of the boat and onto the docks. Each person was yelling out different cabins and hills so they could get their campers to their cabins as soon as possible. Hunter made his way towards a blonde girl in her mid-twenties, Logan paused for a moment but then decided to follow him.

"Boomer, we're in Happy Isle." Hunter said, Logan decided that 'Boomer' was this girl's camp name because who actually names their daughter Boomer? The girl rolled her eyes at Hunter.

"Yeah right, after what happened last year you're lucky to even be back at camp." She said.

"Luck has nothing to do with it," Hunter said with a smirk, Logan stood awkwardly behind them unsure if this was a conversation he was supposed to be involved in. Hunter gave a small shrug of his shoulders, "Go ask Karen." Boomer stomped off towards Karen and Hunter just laughed and started up the path.

"What's so great about Happy Isle?" Logan asked as he tried to keep up with Hunter, who noticed his struggling and slowed down.

"It's great." Hunter said, and he had a dreamy look in his eyes like he was remembering something that made him happier than anything here could, "It's got a view to die for and it's air conditioned. My friends and I've stayed there every summer since we were ten." He sighed and looked a bit sad, but soon his smile returned. They were crossing a bridge over a small stream that came in from the lake. "I don't know who will be staying with us this year. It's one of the largest cabins, but only houses six people." A short walk through a few trees and they were at one of the large wooden walkways that lead up to a cabin on stilts. "Also, it has air conditioning." Hunter said and the boys began ascending the stairs to the front porch


End file.
